to be really pissed off at bad spelling in dd's homework book

[CerealOffender]

not by her, by the teacher or classroom assistant.

Excuse me hocus: you are quite right. I have a lot of time for TAs. I'm afraid I used to think, forgive me teachers, that some of my kids' classes would have been rather more productive had they been run by the TA. I'm sorry I thought it was mentioned by the OP to be the TA and not the teacher.

No, I don't HE but in desperation we decided to pay.

You're forgiven Appletrees. So many threads bash TAs as uneducated and under-trained and 'you don't have to know ANYTHING' to be one, I was just defending my sisters!

Thanks for saying kind things...

I think the OP should take up the spelling issue. It's not OK at all for there to be mis-spellings, and I don't buy the excuse that people weren't taught, or that the job is hard, or that they're good at something else.

It's like saying a surgeon is slightly crap in the operating theatre.

If they can't spell accurately when commenting on children's work, then they're in the wrong job.

onceamai "when the teaching profession gets things like this correct they will have earnt my respect. Until then "

Earnt is not a word.

I'm sorry, but I am really disgusted that people would even contemplate taking this issue further?! Is no one allowed to make a mistake? Yes- if it was a real problem that persisted, then it would warrant some kind of action, but really???
If a parent actually complained to me about a couple of typos in their child's book, then I would be furious as well as very humiliated. It should never be seen as a reflection of my teaching ability.

In fact, i possibly do it far more often than I ever know about due to the fact that I'm often to be found marking books with matchsticks keeping my eyes open at some god foresaken time of night...having just planned some lovely lessons and activities for my classes for my students too. Forgive me if I think a typo is excuseable...

Sorry to randomly butt in. I agree. There is NO excuse for poor spelling. What on earth is F7 for in Word?? It makes my retinas bleed to come across "there" instead of "their" or "must of" instead of "must have." I don't care that they didn't learn formal spelling (WTF) or it's hard or whatever. The job you do is irrelevant. Spelling and grammar should be correct, or you may as well hang a sign around your neck saying "I'm an illiterate cretin and you can find me on FB 'snugglin wiv my gawjus lil princess'" I bet these are the same people who say "haitch" for the letter "H" and make copious use of the odious phrases "bear with me" and "sheer volume of traffic."

I agree with everything whinebuff said especially 'must of', and at the (usually) spoken error in 'everythink' and any other 'think' that should be a 'thing'

[hangry]

Mistakes made by teachers in children's books are not typos.

A TA at our school wrote in the homelearning diary....'She done good'

Parent went straight to the teacher about it and hell broke loose!

The teacher I work with cannot spell and constantly asks me to correct her if she is wrong.

Tis one of the things I can do quite well along with my times tables which were drummed into me at primary school.

Feenie- unsure if you mean that they are not typed, or that I'm making them seem like innocent mistakes?
Either way, I agree that spelling is important, but with the best will in the world, no one is perfect. As I said previously, if it's a continuing problem then it needs to be addressed, but otherwise perhaps people could focus (like another poster suggested) on all those good things that teachers do for children?
Apologies- it's been a long week in my school! I think I need to be transported back to the time when parents supported teachers... (please don't blast me, I'm not here for an argument! I know there are teachers out there who need to be complained about, but in my experience the vast majority are amazingly dedicated. In a field where we learn to focus on the positive aspects of student behaviour, our 'positives' are never acknowledged...but then I'm sure everyone can say that eh!)

No blasting here! I meant that mistakes on books can't be blamed on tapping the wrong key. Perhaps the odd mistake can be forgiven. But consistent errors aren't forgiveable.

I'm currently trying to work out when/how to confront ds's Reception teacher about the sign in the classroom that says 'Book's'

i am pissed off but i am not going to take it further or (hilariously) correct it with a red pen. i do think it represents a low standard which obviously doesn't thrill me.

on the plus side dd was pointing out grammatical errors in her horrid henry book tonight which pleased my little pedantic soul.

some teacher errors can be typos

Primary teachers are often marking work with the child in class and looking after 29 other children at the same time. Sometimes you get interrupted three times whilst writing one word. It can get tricky.

I once wrote God Boy in a reading record. I noticed though.

hocus, mid 30s can be writen with an apostrophe. Numbers can take apostrophes or not. You smart arse

No, they can't.

I don't use apostrophes in numbers (or abbreviations) but this is one of those grammar rules that is changing and it is now accepted that you can use an apostrophe (unless you want to stick to the old school view).

oooo - I feel a pedants war coming up here over the 30's v 30s issue

I'm a bit "meh" about all this furore over the odd spelling mistake here or there with teachers. My Higher English teacher (also the headmaster) couldn't spell for toffee, but my god he got me through my Higher English with a very respectable "B"

And believe me for someone that reached senior school age not having the faintest idea about grammar (noun - what was one of those???), unable to spell, and not having a clue what a "book review" was - that was quite an achievement.

Feenie is right.

You are using arabic numerals to write thirties - where is the apostrophe?

Feenie - I quietly took down part of another teacher's, rather rushed, display because of misused apostrophes. I'm not proud of my actions (nor have I owned up) but it was necessary.

But pinty numbers shouldn't take rogue apostrophes. It doesn't make sense. As pointed out you wouldn't write mid-thirtie's would you?

To be honest, I think I would correct the spelling, but that's just me.

How are our children to learn at school if the teachers can't spell correctly?

Ok...had a good sleep now and have started the weekend (I teach in a country where we work Sunday to Thursday) so much more calm than I was last night! Have kind of rethought my view on this, and would probably correct the mistake with a nice clear red mark! If the teacher is 'bothered' then they will notice it while having a look through the book and your point will be made. If on the other hand, they don't, then I would start to think down different lines- but only if it was a consistent issue.
Totally agree with Humphrey too btw. Even someone with the best teaching/english/writing skills can slip up when 'under pressure'. And there's a element of me that would be very pleased that the book was getting marked in the first place! I'm constantly on the back of all the teachers in my team to check books and to do so productively (proper comments etc).

oh! and for the OP and all those who also seem to do it, thank you for actually checking their books too! You would probably be amazed at the number of parents who have absolutely no idea what their children are doing (at home as well as in class).

If the teachers cannot spell or punctuate then IMO they should not be responsible for teaching literacy. If a lawyer didn't understand a point of law within his specialism you would not continue to use him.